The view from the edge of the Sistani Desert

A Marine with 2nd Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, provides security for his fellow Marines while on a ridge overlooking Marjah, Afghanistan. Behind him is the Sistani Desert, to the west of Marjah. // Dan Lamothe / Staff

PATROL BASE YAZZIE, Afghanistan — We’re closing in on 10 p.m. here in Afghanistan, and I just realized we haven’t shared much new on the blog today. I’ve spent most of the day preparing a long magazine-style feature for next week’s Marine Corps Times that will cover Taliban tactics in Marjah, and how the Corps counteracts them.

Above, a photograph I took last night while out with Marines from 2nd Platoon, 3rd Squad, of 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, on patrol. I’m certainly not the photographer that Tom Brown is, but I jumped at the opportunity to show what the Sistani Desert, just west of Marjah, looks like at sunset. The desert leads to a ridge, which overlooks Marjah and provides a striking contrast to the lush greenery and canals in the valley below.

Below, a view of a patrol brief provided last night by Cpl. Jordan Weaver, right, one of the most thoughtful Marines I’ve met on this trip so far. He led the patrol, which passed relatively uneventfully.

Cpl. Jordan Weaver, right, a team leader with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, briefs his fire team on the plan for a security patrol Tuesday night. // Dan Lamothe / Staff